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Survey: Number of kids watching online videos soars

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By MARTHA IRVINE AP National Writer

The number of young Americans watching online videos every day has more than doubled, according to survey findings released Tuesday. They’re glued to them for nearly an hour a day, twice as long as they were four years ago.

And often, the survey found, they’re seeing the videos on services such as YouTube that are supposedly off limits to children younger than age 13.

FILE – In this Wednesday, April 25, 2018, file photo, the YouTube app and YouTube Kids app are displayed on a smartphone in New York. A new survey confirms what a lot of parents already know: Teens and tweens are consuming a lot of online video, often on services such as YouTube. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane, File)

“It really is the air they breathe,” said Michael Robb, senior director of research for Common Sense Media , the nonprofit organization that issued the report. The group tracks young people’s tech habits and offers guidance for parents.

The survey of American youth included the responses of 1,677 young people, ages 8 to 18. Among other things, it found that 56% of 8- to 12-year-olds and 69% of 13- to 18-year-olds watch online videos every day. In 2015, the last time the survey was conducted, those figures were 24% and 34%, respectively. The margin of error was plus or minus 2.8 percentage points.

Overall screen time hasn’t changed much in those four years, the survey found. The average tween, ages 8 to 12 for the purposes of this survey, spent four hours and 44 minutes with entertainment media on digital devices each day. For teens, it was seven hours and 22 minutes. That did not include the time using devices for homework, reading books or listening to music.

But the findings on video-watching indicate just how quickly this generation is shifting from traditional television to streaming services, often viewed on smartphones, tablets and laptops. Among the teens surveyed, only a third said they enjoyed watching traditional television programming “a lot,” compared with 45% four years ago. Half of tweens said the same, compared with 61% in the last survey.

YouTube was their overwhelming first choice for online videos, even among the tweens who were surveyed — three-quarters of whom say they use the site despite age restrictions. Only 23% in that age group said they watch YouTube Kids, a separate service aimed at them and even younger children. And of those, most still said they preferred regular YouTube.

“It puts a lot of pressure on a parent to figure out what they can reasonably filter,” Robb said.

When presented with the findings, YouTube said that, in the coming months, it will share details on ways the company is rethinking its approach to kids and families.

For now, Farshad Shadloo, a spokesperson for YouTube, a subsidiary of Google, reiterated the company’s terms of use on age: “YouTube is not a site for people under 13.” Among other things, the company also cited its restriction filters and YouTube Kids.

Even so, many children with online access are adept at getting access to regular YouTube or other streaming content — partly because their parents are overwhelmed, said Sarah Domoff, an assistant professor of clinical psychology at Central Michigan University who studies tech’s impact on youth and families.

Those parents could certainly be doing more to track screen time, she said. But, as she sees it, filters on services such as YouTube also aren’t adequate.

“It’s really hard to block out certain things unless you’re really standing over your child,” Domoff said. That’s especially hard to do when devices are portable.

Some are skeptical about how much YouTube will really change a service that easily leads its users, young and old alike, down a “rabbit hole” of video content, much of it created by everyday people.

“If your model is built on maintaining attention, it’s really hard to do something,” said Robb, of Common Sense Media.

His advice to families: “Protect homework time, family time, dinner time and bed time. Have device-free times or zones.”

Domoff added, “There needs to be a game plan.”

Martha Irvine, an AP national writer and visual journalist, can be reached at mirvine@ap.org or at http://twitter.com/irvineap.

RECALL: Baby Formula Sold at Walmart May Contain ‘Metal Foreign Matter’

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Perrigo Company is issuing a voluntary recall of 35-ounce, 992-gram containers of Parent’s Choice Advantage Infant Formula Milk-Based Powder with Iron, sold at Walmart. 

The recall affects 23,338 containers of the formula and the company has indicated that the product may contain “metal foreign matter. See image below.

The product will have Lot Code C26EVFV with a use by date of February 26, 2021, printed on the bottom of the container.

The company is urging consumers to stop the use of the product with the Lot Code C26EVFV and return to Walmart for a refund. 

“No adverse events have been reported to date, and the recall is being initiated out of an abundance of caution stemming from a consumer report,” the company said. “No other products or retailers are affected by this recall.”

Inquiries can be made to Perrigo Consumer Affairs at (866) 829-6181.

[Story originally reported by K-FROG Radio]

Infant Sleepers recalled following multiple infant deaths

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Nearly 5 million infant sleepers have been recalled by the Fisher-Price company following the deaths of more than 30 babies who rolled over in them since the product was introduced in 2009.

Image from CPSC.gov

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission says that anyone who bought any models of the Fisher-Price Rock ‘n Play sleeper should stop using it immediately and contact Fisher-Price for a refund.

For more information or to request a refund, visit www.service.mattel.com and click on “Recalls & Safety Alerts” or call 866-812-6518 from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. ET Monday through Friday.

The recall covers about 4.7 million of the sleepers, which cost between $40 and $149.

You can also find more information about the recall on the Consumer Products Safety Commission site here.

Swallowed toys, coins, batteries spark rise in tot ER visits

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By LINDSEY TANNER AP Medical Writer

CHICAGO (AP) — The number of young kids who went to U.S. emergency rooms because they swallowed toys, coins, batteries and other objects has nearly doubled, a new study says.

In 2015, there were nearly 43,000 such visits among kids under 6, compared with 22,000 in 1995, according to the study published Friday in the journal Pediatrics. The rate jumped from almost 10 per 10,000 ER visits to 18 per 10,000.

FILE – In this Wednesday, Dec. 21, 2016 file photo, a lawyer holds a battery that was removed from a toddler’s esophagus at a news conference in Jacksonville, Fla. A study published Friday, April 12, 2019 in the journal Pediatrics found a sharp increase in emergency room visits involving swallowed objects by kids under age 6. (Bruce Lipsky/The Florida Times-Union via AP)

The increase “rang some alarms,” said Dr. Danielle Orsagh-Yentis, the lead author and a gastrointestinal physician at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio.

Orsagh-Yentis noted that an increasing number of consumer products use potentially dangerous button-sized batteries, including TV remotes, digital thermometers and remote-controlled toys, which likely contributed to the increase.

She said her interest in studying the trend began during her training, “when we were all being called in in the middle of the night at odd hours to remove foreign bodies from either the esophagus or stomachs of children.”

Her research team analyzed a nationwide database of non-fatal emergency room visits for children younger than age 6. Almost 800,000 children were treated during the study years after swallowing foreign objects. Coins, batteries and toys accounted for most of the visits.

While 90% of treated children were sent home without hospitalization, severe internal injuries and deaths have been reported. Batteries and small high-powered magnets often marketed as desk toys for adults are among the most dangerous objects.

When kids swallow more than one powerful magnet, the objects can attract each inside the intestines, boring holes into the abdomen that can lead to life-threatening blood poisoning.

In recent years, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has issued safety warnings and orders to stop sales of some magnets, citing dozens of hospitalizations and at least one toddler death.

The agency also has warned about dangers from button-sized batteries, which when swallowed can trigger a chemical reaction that can burn holes through tissue inside the throat.

Children who swallow batteries or magnets may vomit or complain of abdominal pain. They “should be brought to the emergency room as quickly as possible,” Orsagh-Yentis said.

Morag Mackay of Safe Kids Worldwide, an injury prevention advocacy group, called for more research to understand why the incidents are on the rise. She said parents and caregivers need to be vigilant.

“Try to see the world from a child’s point of view by getting on the floor so that you are at your child’s eye level. Keep small objects such as coins, batteries, magnets, buttons or jewelry out of reach and sight,” Mackay said.

Follow AP Medical Writer Lindsey Tanner on Twitter at @LindseyTanner .

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

This story has been corrected to show that the number of emergency room visits has nearly doubled, not more than doubled.

SD Moms Podcast: Keeping Kids Safe and Limiting Screen Time

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Amber and Sara are radio hosts on KSON and Sunny 98.1, Jessica is producer for John & Tammy in the Morning on KSON. They're also San Diego moms!

Each week, they meet to vent about what’s been going on in their lives as moms and invite you to vent along with them!

Amber and Sara are talking about the dangers that can face kids who have free reign on the Internet.

Keeping them safe and doing what parents can to limit screen time.

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